Published 12:00 am, Sunday, July 31, 2011

UNCASVILLE -- With all the offensive pyrotechnics taking place inside Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday, it would be easy to shrug off the impact of Connecticut Sun second-year reserves Kelsey Griffin and Allison Hightower are little more than an intriguing sideshow to the fourth highest-scoring game in the WNBA season.

Certainly, the 16 points, six rebounds and two steals Griffin and Hightower combined to produce in Connecticut's 99-92 victory over the defending Eastern Conference champions pale when compared to the 36 points scored by Atlanta's Angel McCoughtry. None of their plays, not even Griffin drawing a crucial offensive foul on McCoughtry in the final minute, drew as strong a reaction from the 6,955 as Connecticut guard Renee Montgomery's successful buzzer-beating heave from beyond half court at the end of the third quarter.

However, the subtle contributions of two players who don't always see significant time for the Sun were not overlooked by their teammates and coaches.

"We wouldn't have won the game without what they did," Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault said. "Kelsey has struggled the last couple of weeks. She went back to making the hustle plays. I think it helped her that she made a shot or two early. She gave Asjha (Jones) some good minutes off (the court) and she made an impact on the game at both ends of the floor.

"Allison, it is kind of what I have come to expect from her because she is one of best players I've had since I have been here to always being prepared whether she played two minutes in the previous games or hadn't played in the last three games. She is always ready to play and it is a great, great trait to have."

Eight times this season a healthy Hightower failed to get into a game. A five-minute stint in Thursday's loss to Indiana snapped a streak of three games of bench duty for Hightower. So it probably raised a few eyebrows when Hightower was summoned to replace starting guard Kalana Greene with 2:40 left in the first quarter. If her early appearance was a surprise, seeing her in there for the final 7:11 of a nip and tuck affair would have to go down as a real stunner.

"I wanted to do whatever it took to get the win," said Hightower, who finished with a career-high nine points. "I just try to work as hard as I can in practice to keep preparing and be ready for the games. I try to get that mentality to work hard to get better."

Griffin has had a larger impact for the Sun, starting 21 career games but 11 times this season she has failed to play at least 15 minutes. In her last five games heading into Sunday, Griffin was 1 of 9 from the floor although she did have nine rebounds.

Although Griffin had all seven of her points in the first half, she provided one of the game's most pivotal plays when she drew an offensive foul on McCoughtry with 51.7 seconds to play and the Sun clinging to a three-point lead.

McCoughtry, the only player to have three 30-point games against Connecticut, did not start because she was a little under the weather but she certainly finished it. Thibault threw a myriad of players at McCoughtry with little effectiveness. Finally it was Griffin, who displayed a penchant for drawing offensive fouls early in her rookie season, who came up with a stop on McCoughtry.

"Coach's game plan was to create a wall and clog up the paint," Griffin said. "We didn't exactly execute it all game, but that was what I was focused on. I knew she was going to be driving trying to get herself to the rim. I wanted to be in position so the refs could be in position to be forced to call a charge."

The Sun moved to 11-6 thanks to its balanced offense. Montgomery led four Sun players in double figures with 19, Jones had 17 points, Danielle McCray 16 and Tina Charles 10 points and 11 rebounds. Lawson and Hightower added nine each to offset the offensive explosion by McCoughtry.

While neither Griffin nor Hightower can be guaranteed of combining for 23 minutes as they did on Sunday, they bring a blue-collar aspect to a Sun team which in the past could be accused of having more glamour than grit sitting on the bench.

"They are just players who are easy to play with, they are smart and understand how to play," Lawson said. "They are ready to go when they come in. Sometimes players come in and you go 'uh oh, what's going to happen? What are they going to do?' You don't feel that with those two. You feel good, you feel secure and you feel like they are going to be able to handle their matchup."